I was thinking about the equations this month and the messages inherent. And it reminded me of a true story.

There was a special school with beautiful trees. They were shapely, beautiful and the best kind for climbing. During lunch time and after school, children would often sit under their shade, eat lunch and snacks, hang from the lower branches and climb into the trees. Sometimes little things would be hung from the branches to catch the wind and sun.

This had been a tradition for many years. But one day a new principal came to the school and she was horrified by what she saw. How could the teachers and parents of this school have allowed this to happen. No wonder they needed a new principal! The test scores might be high, but this was surely an unsafe school just waiting for disaster! After all, a child could accidentally slip and be hurt and the school could be sued. Even worse, what if a child pushed another child out of the tree! The school was just lucky that it hadn’t happened yet. What radical people this school was made up of!!! Insane to let children run amok in such a dangerous situation. Everyone knows you never let kids do this! Especially at a school! Never mind that there were always adults present.

As protests arose, parents and staff were told they were the most uncooperative and unmanageable people this principal had ever worked with. Notes were compared with other principals in other districts, legal issues considered and judgments were made about the character of people from the school. Memos were written, the board was notified, people were hired and the children came to school one day to find their beloved trees missing all their lower limbs, so that even an adult could no longer reach the lowest available branches. There was no chance anyone might be tempted even to raise a child up to touch them. And the school and its children would now be considered safe, even if against the wishes and will of the people who made up the community.

The lowest branches had always been the shadiest, and had contained so many memories. But they were no longer there to provide shelter or joy. The injured trees showed huge scars where their branches were now razed off. And though many children tried (and some cried), after awhile no one wanted to have snacks or breaks there anymore. Yes, thankfully the trees were not killed, but there were so many tears and many hurt feelings in an aftermath that would lead up to severe tension in the future, as unheard people and needs were devalued in a fell swoop. Because someone didn’t see it the same way.

It’s a true story. One we can learn from. What might have been a better approach? Decisions were made by an outsider to make the community safe according to what everyone “anywhere else” supposedly already logically and reasonably understood on pure principle. But in the place of safety, hearts, relationships and even a few wills were broken. People were wrongfully accused of being irresponsible and rebellious and no one would take time to observe just how safe the children truly were or weren’t. The more parents tried to please their case, the more they were attacked. The principal had the power of possible lawsuit on her side, and came from a perspective that didn’t even care for trees. “It’s just a tree, why should this matter? Why would anyone want to climb such a dangerous thing anyway? Why is this even an issue?” Even the fact that there were responsible adults always present, “policing their own community,” did not matter. There was no acceptance of the idea that perhaps tree climbing and school could coexist. And when emotions ran high, there was no sympathy either. “What’s wrong with your people? We didn’t completely cut the trees down. We only took away the dangerous branches. You can still have happy memories without the dangerous branches.” It became a painful and emotional end with a lot of take and no give. And it set the stage for continued upheaval in the school’s relationships from then on.

It would have been awesome if somehow the two sides came together with a new approach that preserved everything that everyone valued.

We face an energy pattern in April that will present us with much the same kind of scenarios. Where rules, patience, harmony, balance, and new events, ideas and perspectives combine for our attention. Where we need to consider the preservation of all values.

After the sluggish start we had to the 2013 year, April really becomes a month of full awakening for us. Fundamental changes start making their need to exist, or actual presence, known. Fundamental changes may also be the problem. The western calendar year of 2013 is a 6 vibration. A number that demands and desires harmony, balance and fairness. 6 is the Divine Mother Archetype. Combined with April, the 4th month, we get the auspicious number of 10. Sure, there’s a completion and beginning energy behind the number 10, but more notably is the presence of 0 – the God Power. For all things came from No-Thing.

The tens (numbers followed by zeros) do accentuate the archetype they reduce to, such as in this case the number 1. 1 is the number of direction, the pioneer, discovery and new things as a whole. But zero adds something extra in the tens. The tens also hold an extra space for the presence of Guidance at all times. Not that anyone is every abandoned – no one is. But 10’s denote special attention from Spirit. Some have considered it special protection and blessing. And certainly it is. But it is also a little more like a parent starting a child out on a new venture – like riding a bike for the first time – and always present with a ready hand for support and guidance. Or children off to college, embarking on their new adventure into adulthood, but also always having a safe place to call home with their parents, where they can come home, reboot their laundry, and receive nurturing and advice. Never abandoned, and definitely not alone and without resources. But also, it’s not an energy that is always needed in this way. Because eventually, children grow on to become parents and expert bike riders of their own, needing less and less immediate guidance and attention. The presence of tens do not convey inexperience as souls, but they do denote the presence of new experiences. Similarly I likewise find that those with 100 (note the double zeros) when applied to people tend to denote older souls who are new to the human experience or to the Earth experience. Zeros show us where the plateau jumps, our gateways of transformation in our spiritual development, are.

So… back to April. Wake up calls make themselves known here. Our rules may not be in our best interest. Or we are lacking discipline in areas that need it. Harmony (real or perceived) may be challenged as it butts heads with the number of awakening. But so will laws, institutions, foundations and patience. April involves new ways of dealing with and approaching things – and when I say new, I mean NEW! And not based on previous knowledge or work. It means considering something that hasn’t been considered before. It may also mean considering the danger of something new. With the previous holding patterns present in the year, you can see why now things start feeling like they are speeding up and the year is finally really under way. With the possibilities of challenging harmony and balance in this month, the answers lie not in looking at things in the same ways they always have been. Age old arguments and ways of solving things will not provide the answers here. Our ways of looking at and arguing about law will not help us here. The answer is something that might seem completely radical, or just something that hasn’t considered before or in a long time. And there’s a warning in the mix. Our desire for balance and harmony must not result in simply conforming. Conformity and illusions of harmony are challenged here.